Table Manners of Old France

First Gentleman of his realm... Louis XIV was also known as Louis the Great (Louis le Grand) or the Sun King (le Roi-Soleil). He was a Monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any Monarch of a major country in Europe's history.

Could we restore for half an hour the dinner table of old France and obtain half a dozen instantaneous photographs of a Royal banquet at any era between the reigns of Francis I and Louis Quatorze such a “cataract of laughter” would be heard as might disturb the serenity of Louis in paradise. The Duchess, her napkin tied securely round her neck, would be seen mumbling a bone, the noble Marquis surreptitiously scratching himself, the belle Marquise, withdrawing her spoon from her lips to help a neighbor to sauce with it, another fair creature scouring her plate with her bread, a gallant courtier using his doublet or the tablecloth as a towel for his fingers and two footmen holding a yard of damask under a lady’s chin while she emptied her goblet at a draft. During a feast of inordinate length it was sometimes necessary to substitute a clean cloth for the one which the carelessness or bad manners of the guests had reduced to a deplorable condition. —In the Amador Ledger, “An Idler In Old France,” 1908

 🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

19th C. French Wine Service Etiquette

With meat, one serves what is called 'les grands ordinaires': Burgundy or Bordeaux; but Burgundy is preferable.

The Order of Serving Wines at Dinner — 

After the soup, guests are given a glass of Madeira or Marsala. 

After the fish and oysters, white wine is served: Chablis, Sauterne, Moselle, etc…

With meat, one serves what is called 'les grands ordinaires': Burgundy or Bordeaux; but Burgundy is preferable. Bordeaux is better for entrées and large roasts; but with roasts, nothing prevents one from serving a Burgundy wine de grand cru, and with vegetables, a fine Bordeaux. 

After the vegetables and until dessert, Champagne is served. — From “French Silver Cutlery of the XIXth Century”

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Etiquette of a Gilded Age French Table

A carafe is placed between each place: on one side a carafe of water, on the other, a carafe of table wine. Before each place are four glasses: a water glass, a Bordeaux glass, a Madeira glass and a Champagne glass. They can be placed a straight line or in a square, whichever pleases you more. Put the tallest first.

The illustration (above) gives an approximate disposition for a table set for 20 places at the moment the guests arrive.

A carafe is placed between each place: on one side a carafe of water, on the other, a carafe of table wine. Before each place are four glasses: a water glass, a Bordeaux glass, a Madeira glass and a Champagne glass. They can be placed a straight line or in a square, whichever pleases you more. Put the tallest first.

Small double salts are distributed so that each guest has one within reach.

At n°1, in the centre and at either end of the table, baskets of flowers.

At one of the n°2, placed in turn, the fish, tête de veau en tortue, etc., which will be replaced by a roast, and later, at dessert by a compote, or a raised fruit plate; at the other n°2 a pâté or a ham or display of shells which is not touched during the first service and which is replaced, at dessert, also by a compote, or a raised fruit plate.

At nº3, the entrées, - fish, red meat, poultry, game, replaced by the entremets, - 2 egg or vegetable entremets and to be 2 sweet entremets, - and at dessert by the compotes or raised fruit plates.

At n°4, fruit compotes.

At nº5, compotes or plates with petits fours or confectionery.

At n°6, sugar bowls, one for granulated sugar, the other for sugar cubes.

At n°7, crystal compotes for jams, fruit conserves or fruits in eau-de-vie; and later the cheeses beneath their crystal covers.

At nº8, dessert plates, walnuts, almonds, dried figs, raisins, chestnuts, etc.

At n°9, lamps.

At nºs 10, candlesticks.

At n°11, eight hors-d'œuvres.

If one owns dish warmers they are to be placed beneath the dishes which should be eaten hot. They should also be placed under other plates for the sake of symmetry; but these should not be lit.

Émile Dumont 'La Bonne Cuisine française', Paris, 1873

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

1880’s French Tables and Dining

During the course of the meal, the servants should be attentive that nothing is missing from the table; they should always be ready to offer bread, water or wine or any other complement that the guests might desire. They should change the plates for each course; as for the knife and fork, they too, should be changed for each course, if possible. In any event, they must be replaced after the fish course. It is absolutely necessary.
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In French gastronomy, cuisine bourgeoise is the home cooking of affluent city dwellers, as distinguished from elaborate restaurant cooking, haute cuisine, and from the cooking of the regions, the peasantry, and the urban poor. The cuisine bourgeoise has been documented since the 17th century: Nicolas de Bonnefons, Le Jardinier françois and Les delices de la campagne; François Menon, Cuisinière bourgeoise; and Louis Eustache Audot, Cuisinière de la campagne et de la ville.

French Cuisine Bourgeoise Table Service of 1888

The dining room, the table. – 

The day of the dinner, the dining room should be appropriately readied early in the day. In winter, it should be heated well before the meal begins but the temperature should not exceed 15° C (or 59° F). In the evening, the windows should be closed and the lamps or chandeliers lit. The floor should be covered with a carpet, at least where the guests are seated.

In summer these precautions are unnecessary as it is preferable to dine in an airy location.

The day of the dinner, the table must be covered in advance. The tablecloth must be very large and spotlessly white; the central part of it, covered by one or several table linens. 

The place settings of each guest should be arranged symmetrically, a small bread roll placed beneath the folds of each white napkin which is folded simply. 

Each place setting should have a and spoon to the right, a fork to the left. 

Glasses, arranged by height, are placed to the right and slightly above the table setting in a diagonal line.

For formal, black-tie dinners, where guest are numerous, pitchers of water and table wine are placed between each guest so that water and wine is readily accessible; but at informal dinners of 6 to 8 people, for example, 2 jugs of water and 2 carafes of table wine should be sufficient.

How the guests should be seated. – 

At a prestigious dinner, the mistress of the house is seated at the centre of one end of the table, the master of the house at the other, so that they face each other across the length of the table.

At formal dinners, the name of each guest appears on a placecard at each set ting. At informal dinners, it is the mistress of the house who decides where each guest should sit.

For men, the place of honor is at the right side of the mistress of the house; for ladies, it is at the right side of the master of the house. The left side of each is also valued but is of less importantance. Following these indications, the mistress of the house should be seated between two men and the master of the house between two women. 

After these four places of privilege have been designated, the other guests may take their place, assuring as much as possible that each lady is seated in between two men.

The meal.–

During the meal, the host and the mistress of the house should assure above all the punctuality of the service; but without affectation or noise. Neither one nor the other should leave their seat under any pretext. All must be organized so that their intervention is not necessary. This rule applies as well to the host or hostess during the meal. 

At informal dinners where the head of the family is carving, a carving knife and fork at the side of his place setting.

As soon as the guests are seated, the soup is served in soup plates; but neither the soup nor the soup plates should be on the table; they are in-waiting on the sideboard. They should only be presented to the guests when they are filled or refilled. 

Each dinner course is either presented to the guests or placed in front of the head of the family so that he may distribute them. 

If the courses are individual or easy to serve, they are presented; if not, they are placed on the table to be distributed or carved. 

At informal dinners, where fine wines are not in abundance, full glasses are not served. It is the responsability of the host to serve his guests and then circulate the bottles; but the servants should be careful that each glass is filled with the appropriate wine.

During the course of the meal, the servants should be attentive that nothing is missing from the table; they should always be ready to offer bread, water or wine or any other complement that the guests might desire.

They should change the plates for each course; as for the knife and fork, they too, should be changed for each course, if possible. In any event, they must be replaced after the fish course. It is absolutely necessary.

The service should be accomplished in silence, without hurrying, without raised voices.

When a servant offers something to a guest, whether it be a knife, glass or any other object, it should de presented on a tray and not by hand. The bread should be offered from the bread basket. If the servant offers wine to the guests, he should name each wine he offers or pours.

For dinners served ‘plat à plat’, the service should not abide any interruption, the courses follow one after the other until the entremets; at which point, the servants take away the plates, the place settings, the salt cellars, the bread and all available bottles; the table is then brushed of crumbs.

They give the guests, plates, dessert spoons and knives. The dessert is then placed on the table, in a planned and studied symmetrical order. As soon as the guests have begun the dessert, it is suggested that the servants leave the guests to themselves. If needed, the mistress of the house can summon them.

Coffee is served after the dessert. At formal dinners, coffee is never served on the same table as the meal, but for informal meals, it is often preferred, following the dessert.

In this case, the table should again be readied, that is, plates and knives taken away and the table brushed again of crumbs.

The dessert. – 

The dinner's dessert should be of particuler interest to the mistress of the house, as it is likely to be of great importance to a number of her guests.

The dessert consists of cheese, fresh or dry fruits, fruits-in-liqueur, jellies or jams, petits fours, biscuits, macaroons, sweetmeats and finally, ice-cream.

The fruit, cheese, petit fours or biscuits are arranged on plates or compotes; the jams are served in their original jars or in crystal jam pots; the same is true of fruits-in-liqueur. The sweetmeats are arranged on a plate or on porcelain or metal stands.

Very often, a cleverly arranged basket of fruit occupies the centre of the table. When the dessert arrives it is displayed around this centrepiece. The ice-creams are then presented.

The wines. – 

Regardless of the importance of the dinner, carafes of red and white table wine must always be on the table. As for the quantity of the wine, it is in keeping with the importance of the dinner. 

In any event, in a bourgeoise home, this aspect of the service is of particular interest to the host. Thanks to his diligence, the wines are served not only with the specific courses for which they are destined, but also at the optimal temperature which will bring out their best qualities.

If the red wines have formed a residue, they should be decanted, that is, poured into another decanter without agitating the residue at the bottom of the bottle. But, white wine is not decanted; only those being clear and limpid are to be served. 

As for the ideal serving temperature of each wine, it varies according to the nature of the wine. In general, all white wine should be served cooled, even in ice. 

Bordeaux wines should be served at 15° C  (or 59° F), but that does not mean they should be warmed artificially; taking them from the cellar 4 to 5 hours before serving should suffice, and resting them in the dining room or even in the kitchen until the wine has attained the desired temperature. 

Burgundy wines should be drunk more or less fresh; according to the season.

In summer, they are kept cooled, in winter, they are served at 7 to 8° C; a little less warm than Bordeaux wines.

Champagne should be well-chilled at all times, that is to say iced; a wine of this sort that is not chilled is never pleasant and cannot be appreciated. Dessert liqueurs should always be served cooled.

The order of serving wines. –

After the soup, guests are given a glass of Madeira or Marsala. After the fish and oysters, white wine is served: Chablis, Sauterne, Moselle, etc.

With meat, one serves what is called ‘les grands ordinaires’: Burgundy or Bordeaux; but Burgundy is preferable. Bordeaux is better for entrées and large roasts¹; but with roasts, nothing prevents one from serving a Burgundy wine de grand cru, and with vegetables, a fine Bordeaux. After the vegetables and until dessert, Champagne is served.

(1) There are many people who think that one cannot drink Bordeaux after Burgundy. As concerns wine tasting, I would agree with them; but as one eats different dishes at the table, the bouquet of the wine one has just drunk does not stay in the mouth to the extent that it would ruin the bouquet of the wine to follow.

Coffee. – 

If coffee is served at the same table as the meal, it is usually the mistress of the house who pours and serves it to the guests, at the same time as various liqueurs but that is only possible at informal dinners with a limited numbers of guests.

From Urbain Dubois Nouvelle Cuisine Bourgeoise, Paris, 1888

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Frogs Divide England and France

“Now a terrapin, a turtle, a clam or an oyster is subject to all the same natural repulsion as a frog, and an oyster is particularly objectionable in appearance and slimy suggestiveness.” —  Eight “Delmonico” pattern oyster forks 

— Photo source, Etiquipedia private library  

 

Gilded Age Frog Legs...

Money Can Be Made by Raising Them —

If You Do Not Like a Frog Dinner There Are Plenty of Others That Do

Crispy frog legs are a delicacy in many countries ~ “... the bones of frogs’ legs may be eaten in part with the fingers when the legs... are so small as to defy all but the most expert trencherman.” Such small bones are held in the fingers by one end while the other end is placed directly in the mouth. The impression of gnawing the bone must be avoided. It is no shame, by the way, for a lady confronted with a squab or half a broiled chicken to ask assistance from the gentleman with her in dissecting it unless perhaps she’s at a formal dinner. This is better than running the risk of having the meat land in her lap or, on the other hand, going hungry, if she is really inept.- Amy Vanderbilt etiquette for eating small birds or frog’s legs

Did you ever eat a frog dinner? Never, you will say. Then you have missed something. “Nasty things! The idea!” may be the exclamation of a young housewife who would not shrink from a terrapin stew, a turtle steak, a clam fry or a half-dozen oysters raw on the half shell. Now a terrapin, a turtle, a clam or an oyster is subject to all the same natural repulsion as a frog, and an oyster is particularly objectionable in appearance and slimy suggestiveness. 

Frogs are supposed to divide England and France, gastronomically speaking, as sharply as the English Channel does geographically. One of the first things which sensible Americans did after the colonies had thrown off the yoke was to disembarrass themselves of all silly insular prejudices. They began eating frogs, French fashion. In many of the Eastern States, frogs are as common as chickens or chops in the windows of restaurants.

It takes quite a number of frogs to furnish a square meal, because only the hind legs are eaten. A frog dinner comes high. It is comparable in price only to reed birds on toast, or quail in the first of the season. Fried in batter a dozen frog’s legs would tempt any epicure. A very dainty spring chicken is the best suggestion, but the frog is tenderer than that. Yes, there is money in frogs if the work of raising them is set about in the right way.— San Francisco Call, 1893

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Table Manners for Fruit

Cherries, berries, strawberries (they are not actually berries), oranges, grapes, grapefruit, mangoes and lemons all had utensils specifically made for enjoying them. Many other fruits had none. Peaches, apricots, apples, pears, pineapples, papayas, kiwi, nectarines and plums are among the many fruits which were overlooked. When it came to the etiquette of eating them, the small fruit knife and fruit fork would have to suffice.
— Photo source, Etiquipedia private library

How to Eat Peaches

“The art of eating a peach” is, it appears, one of the questions of the day. According to one authority on the etiquette of the dinner table, a peach should be picked with the fork, quartered, peeled and eaten piece-meal. But, as so much manipulation would evidently leave all the juice of the fruit on the plate this method, to be palatable, requires the courage of the young lady in the story who, at her first appearance at a dinner party, raised her dessert plate with her two hands and calmly drank the sweet juice of the nectarines. The French rule of eating peaches will, therefore, be accepted with much favor, and that rule is, “D’y mordre a pleines dents.”—Pall Mall Budget, 1891

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Tact in French Entertaining of 1907

Instead of sitting at the ends of the table, where they are far apart, the host and the hostess sit opposite one another in the middle, where the table is narrowed and where they are able at once to keep in touch with each other and easily to talk with the guests on either side of each.

The Tact With Which Guests Are Brought Into a Social Group

Every one knows his position and his cue, and every hostess knows that part of her duty is to indicate and to give them, says Professor Barrett Wendell in Scribner’s. Perhaps the most characteristic instance of the way in which this affects social conduct is what generally happens at a dinner party. Instead of sitting at the ends of the table, where they are far apart, the host and the hostess sit opposite one another in the middle, where the table is narrowed and where they are able at once to keep in touch with each other and easily to talk with the guests on either side of each. Thus a company of twelve is at once brought into a single social group, and the outlying members of a larger party are not so far away that they cannot readily listen to the general talk or even take part in it. And the talk is always general, addressed no doubt to one or another of the company, as the tact of the hosts happens to find pleasantest, but never broken into a system of separate confidential dialogues, as is generally the case at home. 

A French dinner is not noisy any more than is a French drawing room. But in either case the deeply subdued tone of voice prevalent in England and among the better sort of Americans would be almost a breach of polite manners. Every social function in France, even to the most informal, has a social character far more pronounced than ours. The individual is there to enjoy himself. But he is also there to play his part. In consequence, all social intercourse in France has a quality less personal, less confidential, somewhat more reserved, than an American is used to. Whoever, even in private places, finds himself in the presence of his fellow beings conducts himself in many ways as if he were in public. The French are in no way conscious of this phase of their manners. It is as normal to them as it is novel to an American visitor. And it results in a general and cheerful, though not quite intimate, conviviality which makes our own manners seem in contrast somewhat melancholy in their dual isolation. —Morning Tribune, 1907

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia©️ Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Cale-Assiette and French Etiquette

Among the small objects found in flea markets, people are intrigued by funny little glass tabs with notches. Some sellers believe these to be knife holders. But they are not very practical for that use. They are, in fact, cale-assiette or ‘plate holders’ — inclined planes with notches, allowing to slightly raise a plate on one side. What purpose? They were very useful when eating artichokes or asparagus. Very fashionable at the end of the 19th beginning of the 20th century, these objects fell a little in obsolescence, although it is still possible to get some. Manufactured by the majority of large French glass and crystal glassworks, they could also be made of silver and other metals or porcelain.” These appeared in the old catalogs including that of Baccarat, but under the name ‘plate holder’. — information from Andre Ganter of  Verrelene

The Baccarat cale-assiette shown above, and others like it, were produced and used at French tables not so long ago, but have become all but forgotten. Unsure regarding the etiquette of cale-assiette, as Site Editor for Etiquipedia, I decided to ask the debonair, Guillaume Rué de Bernadac, of Academie de Bernadac about them. 

Guillaume is one of the most sought after etiquette instructors in the world — Etiquette runs in his blood. His great-grandfather tutored Moroccan royalty. Cale-Assiette are so archaic, even Guillaume, who learned etiquette at a very early age, admitted he had to ask family members for more details on them. He has not seen them used in many years.

I have a lovely box of Baccarat cale-assiette, but I have never found information on exactly how they were used, so I had several etiquette questions for Guillaume: 

• Were cale-assiette part of mid-19th century French place settings? 
• If not part of each place setting, were cale-assiette brought out to the table by the server? 
• Did the server prop the dish up on one side for each diner? 
• If the server did not, did the dinner guest prop up one side of the plate? 
• Were cale-assiette ever used for tilting soup plates or bowls of soup?

Baccarat cale-assiette tilting a plate of asparagus with  sauce —According to Guillaume, cale-assiette, can mean two different things. “What we nowadays call “cale-assiette” in French can designate either something to tilt the plate or something to sort plates out on the table.” Adding that they were, “very trendy during the second part of the 19th century and early 20th. There are some at my grand-mother’s and it’s not uncommon to see a few of them at some flea markets in France.”

“The staff would place one on the table first and then the plate on top of it. The guest could potentially place the plate higher on the ’steps’ at the end of the meal to have more sauce...”

And the etiquette for their use? “They were indeed specifically for artichokes and asparagus, and any other type of dishes which were supposed to be served with a sauce and dipped in with the fingers. For private use mostly, in the bourgeoise familles, the staff would place one on the table first and then the plate on top of it. The guest could potentially place the plate higher on the ’steps’ at the end of the meal to have more sauce collected. It was removed once the dish was finished.” 

Cale-Assiette do work well when eating soup, provided one is eating soup from the olde-fashioned, low and wide, soup “plates” as opposed to soup bowls, as cale-assiette will easily tip a deeper soup bowls over if moved too far under one side of the bowl.

Guillaume Rué de Bernadac is the President & Founding Director of the luxury etiquette institution, Académie de Bernadac in Shanghai and Paris. He has been featured in Michelin Guide, L’Officiel, Global Times, The Guardian, M6, CNN, etc... Académie de Bernadac

The Verrelène company was created in 2011. The blog provides all of our research on antiques and flea markets, in the form of small notices sometimes also published in the regional press (Vosges Matin, l'Echo des Vosges and Vosges Info). The illustrations used generally come from our personal documentation and our photos. When we use illustrations and / or extracts from articles, we generally put references. If we forgot to quote this or that person or reference, please be so kind as to let us know so that we can correct our mistakes and give back to Caesar what belongs to him.

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia